Jacques des Courtils was a member of the French School of Athens (1978-1983) and acted as scientific Secretary of the French Institute in Istanbul (1989-1993).

From 2008 to 2020 he taught a seminar on Greek architecture at the École Normale Supérieure He is now professor emeritus at the university of Bordeaux. All his research work has focused on Greek architecture and urbanism. He carried out excavations in Greece (Thasos) and Turkey (Xanthos).